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Dangers to Tower Climbers, and How to Avoid Them

Everyone knows that being a tower climber is a dangerous job. In fact, in many surveys it appears as the top most dangerous job that can be done in the entire world. Of course, this doesn’t stop people from wanting to enter into this career, and loving the job once they are fully trained, but anyone who is a tower climber should know about the dangers that they face on a daily basis, and most importantly, know how to avoid them. Here are what we consider to be the top three dangers to tower climbers, and how to avoid them:

1. Not being trained properly.

There are a huge variety of training courses and qualifications that are available to tower climbers, and it can sometimes be complicated and confusing knowing exactly what you should have to be allowed to climb towers. It is absolutely vital that a tower climber has the right training. That includes training in climbing, training in electronics, and training in all of the climbing and safety equipment that he or she will use when on the tower. This training needs to be so endemic within your consciousness that in an emergency you just react, you don’t have to think and make mistakes, because your training is so good. If you want to avoid this danger, then you need to check in with your employer and check with them exactly what qualifications they believe are the best ones, and then get them.

2. Bad weather.

Unfortunately, tower climbing is a job that is very elemental. If the sun is beating down, you are climbing up that tower. If your fingers are cold and you haven’t seen the sun for a couple of days, you are still climbing up that tower. But all tower climbers need to be smart about their decision making, and take a good look at weather reports for the whole day. If a thunderstorm is coming in the afternoon, then it is clever to adjust the timetable for the day so that all feet are on the ground by the time that it comes. If the temperatures mean that someone in the tower climbing team could suffer from heat stroke, then you need to take precautions and either decide not to climb, or make sure that everyone drinks enough water during the day. No job is more important than a person’s life, and so it is imperative that all tower climbers take the weather seriously. If you want to avoid this danger, then always factor the weather into your working day.

3. Fatigue.

We are told all of the time on the roads that tiredness kills, and this is just as true for tower climbers. No one apart from a tower climber themselves can truly tell whether or not they have the mental awareness and are awake enough to do their job properly, and so this is something that each and every tower climber will have to do as a self-assessment before climbing any tower. Reasons for being too fatigued could vary: from being hung-over, recovering from an illness, or just sleep deprived, all of these are valid reasons to doubt whether you will be able to tower climb safely that day. Taking one day out, or even just half a day, can make a huge positive difference to your work afterwards, and is always safer. If you want to avoid this danger, then be honest to yourself and your co-tower climbers about how you are feeling.